


Hopeless Concerto in E Minor

by cheinsaw



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Gen, if you die in pointdevice mode you die in real life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-13
Updated: 2015-05-13
Packaged: 2018-03-30 10:40:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3933676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheinsaw/pseuds/cheinsaw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Reisen prepares for returning to the moon to protect the only family she's ever had.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hopeless Concerto in E Minor

**Author's Note:**

> i love the eientei family with all my being.
> 
> if any of this is grossly inaccurate let me know. at the time of writing, there's very little of the LOLK demo and scenarios translated. ordinarily i would hold off until i could get every detail correct, but, well, here i am, a conductor on the touhou 15 hype train. stay tuned for when i inevitably write some kind of horrible doremy/yukari dreamworld yuri

Reisen knows something is wrong the second she walks into the lab and Eirin says, "Udonge, sit down, please." When Eirin calls her, it's usually to teach her something, or ask her to deliver medications. Never to sit down, and never with such a pained look in her eyes.

"What is it?"

Eirin shifts in her own chair, opposite from Reisen. "It would be best if I just told you directly. A Lunarian probe has landed in Gensokyo."

"What?" Reisen gasps, nearly jumping out of her seat. "Are they here to..."

"No, no. They have not found us out, nor do I believe they're searching. Their mission seems to be to purify this land. ...Which is to say, essentially, destroy it. Kaguya and I have discussed it, and we decided to ask the shrine maiden and her friends. But, if you would accompany them..."

 _No._ Reisen can't move. She's frozen. She knows what's coming next, and yet she would rather die than hear it.

"We don't have any time. You'll have to return to the moon." Eirin takes a deep breath, then slowly exhales. "I'm sorry, Udonge. You're the one who knows it best, out of all of us."

"I understand," Reisen says, trying not to let her voice shake.

Eirin, strong and calm Eirin, can't meet her eyes.

 

 _You'll have to return to the moon._ Eirin's voice, saying those seven words, repeats over and over and over in her mind for days. Reisen's cloudy, dazed, feeling like she's sleepwalking as she delivers medicines or makes cups of tea. _You'll have to return to the moon. You'll have to return to..._

Eientei's inhabitants usually rest during the night, but Eirin's been staying up late working on a medicine she says will help Reisen, and whoever goes along with her. So it's no surprise, seeing a soft glow from behind the door of Eirin's lab down at the end of the hall. Reisen treads the same familiar steps, then falters when she hears Kaguya's voice. "...really frightened about this, isn't there anything else we could..."

Then Eirin's voice, lower and so serious. "No. We don't have a choice. But Udonge won't fail. I trust her."

"I know, but it's not that, it's, well... You know Lunarians. They'll slaughter any humans we send out."

"I'm aware. But Hakurei has beaten me before, and you as well."

"That's with the spell card rules!" Kaguya says frustratedly. Something bangs inside the room, followed by the sound of glass wobbling on a countertop. "And she was with _Yukari_ , of all people. Eirin, they're going to get killed."

"Kaguya," Eirin says firmly. Shadows shift behind the thin paper door, and Reisen knows Eirin's trying to physically comfort Kaguya. "Please don't worry. I've thought as much about it as I possibly can, and there's no one better. And Udonge will be there as well."

Kaguya murmurs something softly.

"Yes, I know."

There's a long moment of silence before Kaguya says, "Come to bed soon, okay?" Reisen watches in horror as Kaguya glides towards the door. There's no time for Reisen to move away without Kaguya noticing. "Oh! Reisen. Did you need something?"

Reisen shakes her head. "I just need to talk to Eirin about the preparations."

"Udonge," Eirin calls, appearing in the doorway behind Kaguya. "Eavesdropping again?"

"Well, I just came to talk to you, and you were already talking to the princess so... I waited."

"The medicine is nearly finished. Come in."

"I'm going to sleep," Kaguya says, slipping out the door so Reisen can enter. "Please don't stay up all night again," she says over her shoulder to Eirin.

"I'll try."

Reisen shuts the door behind her, taking in the still-unfamiliar sight of Eirin's office. Usually pristine and organized, in the past few days the lab has turned into a comparative disaster, with papers strewn everywhere, jars of herbs and powders left open on tables, and even a few things knocked onto the floor. "Do you need help cleaning up?"

"No, it's alright. We'll reorganize everything once we're sure Gensokyo is no longer in danger."

"Oh..." Reisen says. The threat of Lunarian invasion has long loomed over daily life in Eientei, but now that it's become a reality, it's impossible to ignore for even a second.

"This is troubling you." It's not a question, the way Eirin says it.

"Well, yes..."

"No need to be ashamed. It's troubling all of us. Particularly myself and the princess. They've come after us time and time again, and I've seen firsthand what the army is capable of. As I'm sure you have."

"Are you really sending humans to fight them?" Reisen asks quietly, not wanting to believe it.

Eirin sighs, and it's the first time Reisen's ever heard her master sound... defeated. "We don't have any choice. I am only allowing those humans with extraordinary skill to go, but it's still very risky. You are the one who knows most about Luna. Please... just be safe."

"I'll do my best," Reisen says. But after seeing Eirin with such little hope left, she's not sure she can make it.

 

When the morning comes Eirin is still in her lab, looking weary and disheveled. Reisen can't even blame her. She herself barely slept, unable to block out the whispers of the earth rabbits or her own intrusive thoughts.

"Are you ready? The medication is finished, and we have no time to waste."

"Am I to leave today?"

"As soon as possible."

"Certainly," Reisen says, taking the bottle of pills. "I'll be on my way then." Best to get it over with, although she wants to stay hidden in the safety of Eientei for as long as she can.

And then. Eirin surprises her yet again, with a firm pat on the shoulder. "Come back safely." She wants to say more, Reisen can tell, but she stops herself with a long blink and a sigh. "Take care, Udonge."

"I will," Reisen says.

The flight to Youkai Mountain is short, especially with Gensokyo's fastest magician zipping along beside Reisen. The destruction there is obviously the work of Lunarians, a flattened expanse free of all life. The mountain itself remains largely untouched, with the familiar sight of tengu flying high above the treetops, but it could be a matter of days, if not hours, before it meets the same fate as the ground below. Pure, and dead.

The thought makes Reisen sick.

Luna was once her home. Now, her home is planted firmly on the ground, long windowless halls and shoots of bamboo. Her home is a pharmacist, and a princess, and hundreds of earth rabbits pounding mochi and laughing. Standing at the base of Youkai Mountain, seeing the withered, razed landscape, it reminds her of the life she used to live. If it could even be called that. It feels so alien, so foreign, to think of it now, like a long nightmare she'd woken up from years before.

She's no longer a moon rabbit. She belongs to the earth.


End file.
